


Trust

by Hopeful_Foolx



Series: Whumptober 2020 [19]
Category: Wolf 359 (Radio)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Whumptober 2020, implied kepcobi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:27:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27284914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hopeful_Foolx/pseuds/Hopeful_Foolx
Summary: How to trust Warren Kepler - a guide Daniel Jacobi will write of he ever finds out.
Relationships: Daniel Jacobi & Warren Kepler
Series: Whumptober 2020 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945483
Kudos: 9
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Trust

**Author's Note:**

> This is short, and a snippet from their first mission together :)

“Easy” Kepler kicked the door shut behind them and in the process nearly lost his grip around Jacobi, “Easy, take it slow” Daniel wanted to roll his eyes, would have done it, if he wasn’t so dizzy already. The grip he had around his middle, holding whatever piece of makeshift bandage to the gash in his side weakened even more in the process, and only the prospect of having to clean the blood off the stairs to their motel room made him press it down with all he had left. Which was not much, but something. Of course he got hurt. Their first real mission together, real as in ‘longer than half a day’ and he got hurt. He even tried to hide it, but there wasn’t much he could do - he stumbled and Kepler caught him and saw the blood. If things went the way Jacobi would have liked, he’d never told anyone, stitched himself up like back in the old times and called it a day. He did not like being dragged here by his commanding officer, one Warren Kepler in precise, and he liked even less how he made him feel like he screwed up. Not in getting hurt, but in keeping it a secret. Granted, the burning pain in his side should count as punishment enough.   
“Slowly now” He leaned down to position Jacobi on the bed and put a hand on his shoulder to ease him down. It was probably easier doing this horizontally. And in general, he liked being horizontal. The world kept spinning, sure, but that was just a thing. 

“I… I can do-” He lost the argument before he even opened his mouth, but when he heard himself slur it just got worse.

“Keep your eyes open, that’s all  _ you _ have to do right now” He wanted to laugh hearing the tone Kepler talked in. As if Jacobi was a child, but well, he supposed he didn’t deserve any better. At least he didn’t just… pull his hand away and said ‘oops’ when Kepler found out. Did that count for something? Probably not.    
“Still with me?”    
  
“Hmhmm…” 

“I don’t know if you’re spacing out because of the blood loss or because you have  _ very important thoughts _ , but I need to sew this” Someone like Kepler wouldn’t count to three. He wouldn’t tell him to brace himself, just inform him of his plans. He didn’t need to tell him that it would hurt - Daniel was not an idiot.    
He still needed to keep himself from screaming, felt his muscles cramp up and then relax again,  _ forced _ himself to relax, trying to let rational thinking take over. Not easy, because even if Kepler worked quick, he still stabbed through his skin multiple times, the whole point was exactly that.    
It took an agonizingly long time until Kepler put the needle down and Jacobi couldn’t feel his cold and sticky fingers on his skin anymore. Even feeling anything was a chore, anything beside the cold and the pain and the burning.

“You should have told me,” Kepler finally said, wiping blood off his fingers and going on to wipe the blood off Jacobi's stomach too. “that you were this injured”

“Didn’t think it was…” Kepler laughed, short and joyless, and he tried to decide if it was because Jacobi slurred his words or for a different reason. 

“Important? I hope that is what you wanted to say, because if it was ‘serious’ I’ll check for a concussion next” Jacobi just scoffed. 

“...important” he finished anyway. For some time, there was silence again as Kepler taped gauze over his stitches. “Thought I’d just… deal with it. As usual” Usual before Goddard, at least.  _ Usual _ as in ‘before he had a partner’, even if said partner was a dramatic moron who loved his Scotch more than his life and found blood sweeter than wine.

  
“Daniel, look at me” He did, but only hesitantly, “I need to know these things. I need to know I can count on you, and that only works if you trust me” Trust. How could Kepler talk about trust of all things? How? When he told stories he changed more often than his shirts, and when he… When he himself trusted bloody no-one? “In the long run, it makes you a liability in the field” Yes, of course. He turned his head away again and closed his eyes. This kind of trust. There was a pause in which Jacobi already dared to hope he would not start talking again for now. Of course he did, but sat down on the bed and stretched out next to him. When Daniel finally dared to look at him, he had his hands behind his head. It was… it was ridiculous, even if he couldn’t really place why.    
“On a more egoistic level, I do not like seeing you bleeding out and have even less interest in going through the whole recruitment-process again. You’re rather capable.” Another pause in which Jacobi just closed his eyes again. What was he supposed to answer? ‘It’ll never happen again, Sir!’? Probably. Very likely. And he would say that, later, because that was how they worked, had to work. Just not now. Now he was… It felt like he was ruining the mood, as if Kepler talking was the only thing this was about, Jacobi himself just an added bonus. So he kept quiet, eyes shut, and didn’t even open them when he heard a quiet laugh, before: “And I do actually like you” 


End file.
